


Our Lady of the Tree

by roses_and_thorns3



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, Flying, Gods, Gods and Monsters, I love one (1) goddess, Lots of Gods, M/M, Multi, Mythology - Freeform, Old Gods, Polyamory, Post-Canon, Rituals, Shapeshifting, apotheosis, basically a goddess!julia extravaganza, julia-centric, maybe haven't decided, wickodi, wickoff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-11-15 04:14:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18066392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roses_and_thorns3/pseuds/roses_and_thorns3
Summary: Julia has loved magic since the day she discovered its existence. And everyday since, she has struggled to keep it in her life -- inviting innumerable amounts of pain. But that time is over. She's a Goddess now, and she's not about to take it for granted.-OR-A goddess!julia ficbook with varying levels of continuity, different premises, and what is likely to be sporadic updates. I take requests on my Tumblr (@tiredmoonslut), and am especially a fan of Wickoff, Wickodi, and Julia x anything deity related. Come cry with me about Our Lady of the Trees, you guys.





	Our Lady of the Tree

The events of Castle Blackspire are like a massive chessboard. Even to Julia’s enhanced awareness, it’s difficult to discern all of the moving pieces.

 

She can feel … everything. All of them. Their pain and anger thudding in her like disembodied hearts, lined up on a mantle inside her head.

Alice, especially, is growing increasingly problematic. Light years away, drinking tea with her Goddess mentor, and Julia can _still_ feel that … anguish.

 

“...Persephone suggested we don’t tangle with other gods for awhile. She figured you wouldn’t appreciate all the petty drama getting shoved in your face right from the get-go, which is totally understandable! You’ll have plenty of your own after the first half-millennium or so. We’ll take it slow. Start with the small stuff: world creation, filtering prayers, preferred ghostly apparition...”

Julia stares on incredulously, half-entertained and half-baffled, but nonetheless sitting forward to listen. In the morning hours before Iris had found her, Julia’s magic had … _pulsed_ impatiently, coiling in anticipation of everything she could _feel._  Energy waves, all around her -- charged with the whispers of prayers, flickers of life. Julia’s magic wanted to race along the threads, wanted to revel in it.

And she's going to learn how to do all of that and more. How she's going to fit on this chessboard when her game piece is--admittedly--much bigger than it was.

 

But then-- _oh._ Eliot uses the bullet she’d given them, and she _feels_ Quentin’s heart kicking up a frantic, confused beat. Anger and love and longing clang together all at once, like church bells in Julia’s brain. She takes a large gulp from her teacup just to conceal her surprise.

“This is _not_ what we agreed on,” Q says, exasperated.

“I didn’t actually agree on anything, but I did decide one of my best friends wouldn’t spend the rest of his life locked in a prison.” Eliot responds primly, some hidden adoration gleaming in his eyes.

Julia grins to herself, putting something together in her head that she hadn’t previously.

They _love_ each other.

Q loves Eliot more than Alice, Eliot loves Q differently from Margo but just as intensely. A mountain of complexity is hidden there, where no human eyes can easily see. It’s … it’s not surprising, what Julia sees, she just didn’t expect such … _vibrancy._

 

Julia blinks again, shaking her mind out of its second sight. She needs to focus.

She’s not sure she’s ever seen anywhere more beautiful than Iris’ lab. Flowers of every single color actively  _move_ towards the light, swaying gently in some invisible breeze. The fatter trees around the two women hold shelves  _in_ their trunks, filled with strange globes, slow moving threads of light swirling in each of them. Looking at them looses some--some sort of _ache_ , in Julia’s chest, and she knows that if she focuses harder she’ll see the worlds encapsulated in each of them, all of their beauty. All of their life.

She wonders what the first one she creates will look like.

It’s more than possible, Iris had guaranteed as much.

Somewhere down the line, Julia had made peace with the fact that fighting to keep magic in her life was how it would always be. Drawing it from the air as if struggling for breath, practicing jagged and fractured spells in a dirty Safehouse.

But now? Now it practically _bursts_ forth from her, tugging on the millions of tiny threads connecting her to souls around the world and beyond. Instead of sleeping, which Julia no longer seemed to need to do, her mind danced in the atoms of the planet she’d lived in ignorance of her entire life. Answering prayers and righting wrongs as she went, quick as if she was pitching down a zipline. She is infinite, unending. The seed Persephone gave her is a raging, wild menagerie of vines and leaves and flowers, curled into her very soul.

But she doesn’t know everything. Judging by the rough timeline of spark growth in her mind, Jules has only been full-blooded Goddess for three Earth days. Judging by Iris’ gentle pace in doling out information, there’s mountains of things she still has yet to learn. Julia expects dread, but finds nothing but anticipation for the years, decades, _centuries_ to come. She can live happily like this. Even if it does mean leaving her friends behind.

 

Kady misses her. Julia doesn’t expect this, but she can _see_ it now, plain as day. Kady wishes she was there with the rest of them, cleaning off the fountain they’re mere minutes away from activating. Wishes Jules hadn’t left. Wishes she’d said goodbye.  
Sorrow nibbles at Julia’s awareness, but she pays it no mind. The time for sorrow is long over. Like Iris said. She can put those things down.

Or, maybe not.

 

When the feeling hits again, Julia gasps aloud, her teacup plunking onto the table, Iris' words cutting off mid-sentence. The rainbow goddess looks up from her tea, startled, but the look dissolves into sympathy in a mere second. “Ah. It's your friends, isn't it? I know the connections are strong, but you need to let them go.”

Julia’s eyelids flutter shut, eyes no longer on the table or the goddess in front of her, but looking across the universe, through her friends’ eyes. Through their minds and ears.

 

They don’t know it, but Alice has just made a decision. As soon as the fountain is ready to go, she's going to destroy the Keys.

And … distantly, her awareness brushes up against something … _dark,_ and unnatural, and vile in its non-humanity. Julia’s breath catches, “I know, but it’s bad. Can’t you tell?”

Confusion colors Iris’ expression, “Er...No?”

Julia blinks back into her own body, head lifting to meet Iris' eyes. “ _Listen."_  Julia takes her hand, a bridge opening between them, what Julia sees playing across it.

The  _doom_ she sees, swiftly approaching her friends.

 

“Oh, _shit_ ,” Iris recoils, throwing her parasol to the ground and releasing Julia’s hand. “Shit shit shit shit _shit_.” Julia watches with worry as Iris raises her hands, eyes shuddering as she draws on whatever invisible well of power she holds.

When Iris’ eyes open again, they are glowing with every color Julia has ever seen and _more_ , things she never could have noticed with human eyes.

“What are you doing?” Julia asks.

“Letting the other Gods know that we’re all fucked.”

“Wait, what?”

“That _monster_ , Julia. It’s about to get free. Don’t worry though, I’ll shift the lab into another galaxy in just a sec, _much_ harder to find us.”

 

Dread begins a heavy song in Julia’s chest, and she too gets to her feet, turning her attention back toward her friends.

Quentin and Eliot approach Margo in the throne room, Josh, Kady, and Penny waiting next to the fountain (a massive thing, Julia can feel its power even when dormant).

“Could have used some Goo Gone and a toothbrush, but we should be good to go.”

“Alright bitches, everyone grab a key.”

 

Suddenly everything is moving very fast, each player on the chessboard taking their turn at once. Julia can _feel_ the Monster reorienting itself in the knight’s body, feels the deep shaky breath Alice takes as she readies for what’s ahead, feels the rapid heartbeats of her friends in excitement and anxiety, feels Fen’s melancholy on the topside of the planet, mourning the Fairy Queen -- feels Gavin the traveler locating Castle Blackspire with his power -- there's too much, _too much._

The sky above Julia turns from endless noontime to stormy night, thunder crackling as Iris begins to lift and move the entire lab, and Julia knows what she needs to do.

“Iris, wait.”

~

“--everyone grab a key.”

There’s no time to waste. Alice lifts her hand, pulling on the strange fairy magic in her system, and watches as--just like that--her positive presence in her friends’ lives disappears.

A simple kinetic spell, and then she begins the real work: A spell to pierce through the Keys and release the magic inside them, rendering them useless. Not an easy one, but she'll manage.

But she _cannot_ let them stop her once she’s started.

 

“Alice,” Quentin says, the betrayal in his voice enough to make her grit her teeth, “Why?”

Tears threaten to fill her eyes, but Alice blinks them away, the keys beginning to redden and hiss with heat. _Keep casting._

“ _You._  You talked me out of working for the Library,” _Keep casting._  The keys glow in earnest now, the sentience in each of them bucking against her, trying to throw her off. _Keep casting._  “I-I realized there’s, there’s no good side. Magic just makes everyone different kinds of bad!” _Keep casting keep casting keep casting_ “Selfish. Irresponsible. We can’t handle it!”

“You can’t handle it.” Eliot says, no malice in his voice, only begrudging fact.

“It’s wrong. We’re wro--”

 

“He’s right.”

The only inkling that the world still moves is the boom and crackle of lightning outside. The dark fairy magic at Alice’s fingertips halts, the keys above in suspended animation. Her now former friends still stare in shock, Penny still lies unconscious at her feet, but nothing … moves.

 

Nothing except Julia, hair a silken river down Her shoulders, eyes alight with stars and jewelry gleaming on Her ears and wrists. She wears a regal looking cloak over a dark tunic, all made of soft, foreign material. But none of it compares to the sheer _power_ in Her eyes, the aura of it reaching Alice even from across the room. And it’s all directed at _her._

The others, even in their immobilized states, watch on in clear shock, Quentin and Kady’s eyes the widest of all as they behold their friend’s new appearance.

“Your pain isn’t exactly something We’d call … quiet,” She says, head turning from Alice briefly to scan the others, gaze snagging on Penny’s prone form for a moment.

“Especially yours.” She directs toward Alice. The Goddess has been moving slowly about the room as She talks, closing the distance between Her and Alice rather quickly.

 

Alice doesn’t have the ability to look at anything else once Julia is this close, and something close to fear drums in her chest.

“Listen to Me.” and, _holy shit,_  it’s impossible not to. Impossible not to turn her entire awareness towards Julia when Her voice carries such _resonance,_  like a thousand thunderheads are contained in it. Alice wonders dimly if Julia’s doctoring it up for effect, or if that’s just what She sounds like now, in this form -- this _being_ , who is both the woman she knew and so much more -- apotheosis made real.

“I understand your pain, Alice. I do. But what you were about to do? It would have doomed you. And your friends.”

Even immobilized, even under a Goddess’ magic, Alice resists, fights back against it. The reflexive urge to _keep casting, finish the spell_ pushes at Julia, but finds zero purchase. There is no escaping this.

“You think getting rid of magic is for everyone’s good. You’ll see someday, it isn’t.”

 

Her voice is so gentle and _oh_ , Alice wants to cry, to scream that this is the only way out for her, the only way she can see the world moving forward, but her voice is a dead thing in her throat. She’s at Julia’s mercy. Magic is coming back. Alice can’t stop it.

“But for now? I need you to stay out of the way.”

A simple flick of her fingers, and Alice is free from the immobilization, only for her hands to break spell formation and lock behind her, body lifting off the floor and gliding back, back, back, until a pillar thuds against her and _sticks_ \-- a witch bound to her pyre. Trapped.

 

Julia glowers down at her with unbearable empathy, before turning to Penny, bending down on one knee. A gentle, glowing hand brushes across his cheek, and he wakes, gasping immediately at the sight of Her. Julia grins warmly, helping him to his feet. Another flick of Her fingers, and freedom of movement rips through the room like a wave. Kady and Quentin rush forward, Margo, Josh, and Eliot following closely behind.

“Jules,” Quentin begins, arriving at Her side. Her expression warms at the sight of him, and he grins back at Her in awe, “ _Nice_ outfit.”

She almost _shimmers_ in response but tilts Her head in Alice’s direction, “Pretty big boulder over there. A shot of magic would’ve been nice, huh?”

Quentin’s head bows, shoulders lifting in a shrug. “We needed to know what we’d be walking into.”

She just grins wider, shaking her head. The others’ reactions are … mixed. Penny still watches Her with lips parted in shock, Eliot with mild curiosity, Margo with genuine admiration, and Josh looks about the same as he probably did when he saw _The Force Awakens._

“There’s not much time,” She says matter-of-factly, “Irene McAllister is coming. With the traveler.”

  
Various foulmouthed reactions ensue, from all except Quentin, who looks despairingly up at the keys, still suspended in air. “What--I mean what are we supposed to do? They’re practically liquid.” It’s true. The keys, in their immobile state, are losing shape -- caught in mid-melt.

Julia responds with a half-smile, turning Her attention towards the keys.

 

Alice can only watch with baited breath as Julia’s eyes glow with great, brilliant light -- bright as the sun. Slowly, the Keys seem to move in reverse, their liquefied states folding inward and resolving into solidity again. As if dumped in water, they sink toward the floor, each tag on them re-materializing out of nothing. Alice’s spell, undone in an instant.

 

Julia’s eyes dim, and She pats Her hair almost absentmindedly. “You need to hurry.”

Margo doesn’t hesitate, grabbing Truth and Time and running for the fountain, “You heard her, bitches!”

The snark sets the rest of them in motion, Quentin grinning at Her before snatching Unity. Penny lingers, but at a nod from Her takes Illusion. Eliot takes Darkness, Josh takes Vision. Finally and, rather appropriately, Julia takes the World key and follows after them.

When the Keys slide into their designated keyholes, nothing happens. At least, not for anyone else. But Julia can _feel_ the magic, waiting just behind the fold of the universe. The Wellspring gurgles in anticipation of its unleashing, and a great rumble begins beneath their feet. The questers back away in excitement and caution as _magic_ erupts, shooting from their stone faucets and into the center pool, flowing back into the universe.

 

Julia gives them one second. One second to admire the beauty of it, of their quest’s conclusion. One second to revel in the moment of _triumph,_  after months of searching. And then She flicks Her fingers again, and blips Alice across the room so she's standing next to them. Ignoring their animosity to the blonde, Julia gives Penny one final nod, and his eyes fill with understanding.

Without a word, Penny grabs his friends and travels out. And they’re gone.

She sucks in a breath, calming the melancholy in Her chest, and leans against the fountain almost casually, sensing Irene McAllister’s approach.

Julia’s magic coils in Her veins, and She grins.

Time to be a Goddess.

-

It’s only a few seconds before they appear. Releasing Gavin’s hand, Irene straightens at the sight of the castle all around her, before her stare lands on the fountain, the Wellspring flowing into it. Dean Fogg is with them, clearly disgruntled by the _lack_ of his students anywhere, and worry blooms behind his eyes. He’s aware of how deep his betrayal runs, and now might not even be able to make good on it. Where is Quentin? Alice? The others?

Gavin the traveler seems unperturbed by all of it, rallying his power to travel straight for the fountain, Siphon in hand.

When he does so, his path is blocked immediately by a glowing, ethereal Goddess.

“I wouldn’t do that.” is all She says.

 

Gavin has enough sense to look unsettled, but apparently not enough to slow his roll, because he tries to travel past Her. Through Her, even. He finds, quite quickly, that he can’t. In fact, he can’t move at all. He’s trapped in his own body, fear slowly rising in his throat as he registers the smirk on Julia’s face.

Irene, on the other hand, is a bit more brash. “You _bitch_ ,” she seethes, black fairy magic gathering around her hands, “ _Killed_ my family and freed _my_ fairies--” but then--oh no, she can’t move, either. Julia thinks it rather merciful, there is much more She could do to them, much more She probably _should_ do. But She quite likes the idea She’d shared with Iris. The thirty second window to attach the Siphon comes and goes.

 

“It’s funny, all this Godly knowledge and I still just _don’t get it_.” Julia leans back on the fountain again, nonchalantly running a hand through the Wellspring waters. “All those opportunities for you to make better decisions, and you ignored them.” Irene’s eyes practically _flame_ with anger. Julia clucks Her tongue, shoulders lifting in resignation, “Maybe some time in prison will teach you not to turn such opportunities away.” She stands, walking past them dismissively.

 

Dean Fogg hangs in the back of the room, almost shamefully. His plan with Zelda had failed. He knows it. Julia arrives in front of him in a few short moments, Her expression brimming with disappointment and open _anger_.

“We trusted you.” She says.

“Miss Wicker--”

“We _trusted_ you, I _helped_ you. I gave you back your sight and _this_ is what you chose to do with it.” She doesn’t allow him to say anything else. Instead raises Her hand to his face, magic at the ready, poised to take back what She’d given him. He seems to expect it, shrinking back instinctually.

But She stops. Lowers Her hand. Instead Julia takes another step forward, rising until she’s a hairsbreadth from his ear, and says, “Use this mercy as an opportunity to _learn."_

She waves Her hand, and he’s gone -- back to Brakebills.

 

Julia sighs, and waits for the Monster to appear. She’d gambled on this part of the plan, hoping against hope that it would simply _stay away_ while She dealt with everything else. Had timed Her words and actions down to the second.

When the Monster _does_ show up, She’s ready.

Dressed in the body of Ora the knight, black curls fall around its face. “Will you _play_ with me?”

Julia smiles warmly, “Oh, I’d love to … but I can’t,” She moves slowly, Her power roiling at the _wrongness_ of the thing in front of Her, the magic hissing _unnatural, demonic, soulless._ She pushes the feelings aside, and motions toward Irene and Gavin -- free from their immobility but frozen in fear just the same. “But they would _love_ to play a game with you.”

The knight’s eyes follow Julia’s pointing hand, and smiles. “ _Yay!_ ” it says, so much like a child Julia’s stomach twists.

The Monster skips toward Irene, hand outstretched for her, and Julia only grins at the woman before traveling out, leaving them to their fate.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I'm going to practice being consistent while also dealing with ADHD and periodic depression. Wish me luck? Goddess!Julia was an arc I really, really clicked with, and with how short lived it was in canon (as of right now, lookin at you, Season 4. don't do me wrong!), I want to provide for myself and other goddess lovers in the fandom. Comments make my world go round, kudos are awesome, and ... yuh. Tell me what you guys might want to see on my Tumblr, @tiredmoonslut.


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